I do not believe that our generation has, by and large, lost sight of "noble" goals, no matter how impossible or rebellious. But there are several circumstantial factors that, I believe, muzzle the passion of my youth. These are factors that shackle my commitment and my enthusiasm to pursue, what I like to believe is, my present calling. I hope that these factors are also, to a certain degree at least, universal.

(1) Expectations: I do not believe in soothsayers but my mother was told by one that I would grow up to be either a man of incredible peace (and no property) or a man with immense wealth (and little else). Wanting nothing but the latter, my parents set me on a path that was, to them, absolutely new and untreaded -- that leading to college and an education. The pertinence of this background is crucial because it will, wanting intervention, invariably lead to the pawning of my labour, mind, and soul. Fast forwarding to the present, the education "granted" to me has now become a burden to the extent that I am expected to reap its fruits in a certain manner lest I become ungrateful and unworthy. The measure of success, at least to those who have only been able to indulge their capitalist dreams by decades of window-shopping, is a person's gross income. And education, my greatest asset, has come to become my biggest liability -- in helping me discover where my true (non-materialistic) fidelity lies, it has also made me most susceptible to the demands of those who have made the learning possible.

(2) Law School: The easiest path seems to be the most (monetary) enriching one. The legal universe has conspired to determine our destinies and it is an easy ride if we let ourselves float. I went to a college that was deeply committed to social justice and this large-scale commitment had various concomitant benefits. It allowed me to become more risk-friendly. In law school, the most risk-averse institution that I have ever been a part of, hierarchy is determined by grades and our egos are enlarged or deflated based upon that same matrix. Given this measure of brilliance, there is also a convergence in outlook, style, and ambition. Denying the system full control of our future is like relinquishing our place, upon which we stamp our entitlement, in a shared destiny that has gained its glory from the mere fact that our peers before us have gone there and the generations to come, we assume, will aspire to go there. This fear of risk (that seems to share a strong correlation to this profession) coupled with the serving of "opportunities" in silver plates is, to say the least, seductive.

(3) Admission: I concede that there is a strong positive correlation between LSAT scores/grades and law school performance but I doubt that there is any worthy relationship between the test scores and our passions and dissatisfaction (in fact, there may even be an inverse relationship but I have no statistics to prove that). Hence, we come here with the brains, the hornbooks, and the inspiration to excel [read: good grades], but leave behind (if ever begotten) our inner revolutionaries. And to my very limited understanding, that fire is what separates a robot from a human, and an impeccable predictor from a lifelong visionary.

I am still uncertain about how I may be able to best express my thoughts in relation to the above topic, which was discussed at some length on Tuesday. But I do know that there is no particular career choice that is better than another. The fallacy of the convenient route lies not in its nature (for many may find true meaning in it) but rather in our submission to a destiny that may never have been our true calling.

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